reproduction

Biotech startup will release infected males in 20 states, DC to mate with females in the wild

(Newser) -
A biotech startup has just gotten approval from the FDA to unleash a new weapon against potentially dangerous mosquitoes. The weapon? Mosquitoes. As Gizmodo explains, a company out of Kentucky called MosquitoMate will sell male mosquitoes infected with a bacterium to businesses and homeowners in 20 states still to be...
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They hope to study endometriosis, fibroids, cancer, and more

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Scientists have created a device that mimics the female reproductive cycle, hailing it as a breakthrough in the study of diseases that affect hundreds of millions of women and girls around the world. Reporting in the journal Nature Communications , researchers at Northwestern University and beyond note that their "microfluidic...
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It's similar to the magnetic fields that form around magnets

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So how does one sperm manage to best tens of millions of competitors to fertilize the egg? It may have the best rhythm, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzing how sperm cells move have come up with what they call a "simple mathematical formula" to explain what's happening,...
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At least when it comes to mosquitofish, where males attack instead of court females

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The tiny eastern mosquitofish, indigenous to the southern and eastern US, is unlike much of the rest of the animal kingdom when it comes to reproduction, starting with the differing objectives of the females and males of the species. Because they have to bear the burden of actually carrying the...
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DNA variants can also predict probability of a woman remaining childless

(Newser) -
For the first time, scientists have identified areas of DNA—specifically, 12—associated with reproductive habits, in this case the age when men and women have their first kid and how many kids they have. Reporting in the journal Nature Genetics , researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed more than...
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They have a new theory that focuses on the way ovulation has evolved

(Newser) -
The role of the female orgasm has been a head-scratcher for centuries. Case-in-point: Aristotle himself noted that the fact that human females don't need it to conceive clouded the quest for explanation. The statistics that show it's an "uncommon" occurrence during heterosexual intercourse and the lack of...
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It wants them to start families later and not worry about genital injuries

(Newser) -
In an effort to keep young military enlistees from leaving to start a family, the Pentagon is going to start offering to freeze their eggs and sperm, the New York Times reports. According to the Military Times , nearly 72% of enlistees are 30 or younger—prime years for starting a...
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So far, 8 women have signed up at Cleveland facility

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Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are prepping for what they hope will be, in a few months, a US first: the transplant of a uterus into an otherwise healthy woman so she can get pregnant. A New York Times special report notes that eight healthy women from around the country...
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Smalltooth sawfish stun scientists with offspring

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Looks like female sawfish don't need the guys so much anymore. Scientists have discovered seven examples in Florida of virgin-birth offspring by smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species whose members grow up to 25 feet in length and have long snouts studded with teeth, LiveScience reports. Their offspring may provide...
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(Newser) -
Scientists have long wondered why men exist. Sex between males and females is simply not nearly as efficient as asexual reproduction. But now a group out of the UK is reporting in the journal Nature that, after looking at several years of lab-controlled procreation of the Tribolium flour beetle, they'...
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(Newser) -
Scientists are puzzling over a new discovery regarding Stone Age sex: It seems that for every 17 women who reproduced at the time, just one man did the same. The findings are based on an analysis of the DNA of 450 people from geographically diverse locations. Researchers compared Y-chromosome DNA,...
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May be first major employers to provide this type of coverage

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Silicon Valley already leads in tech innovation—why shouldn't it lead in procreation, too? Facebook has expanded employee coverage to include egg freezing, and Apple will start providing similar coverage in January, company reps tell NBC News . Both companies—thought to be the "first major employers to offer...
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An actual ticking clock can speed things up: study

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Ladies, you know your biological clock—the one that "ticks" away as you start feeling like it might be time to reproduce? Well, it turns out the sound of an actual ticking clock can speed up your reproductive timing, making you want to have babies earlier, according to a...
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Just two genes from it are necessary to reproduce: study

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Who needs a Y chromosome? Scientists have found that "male" mice without the sex-defining chromosome can reproduce—as long as they've got two key genes from it. A team in Hawaii worked with mice lacking full Y chromosomes; instead, they had two genes, called Sry and Eif2s3y, inserted...
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Study finds processed meats can lead to poor sperm quality

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Guys, want more and better sperm? A new study by Harvard researchers found eating processed meats leads to poorer sperm quality. That means if you and your wife are trying to make a baby, it’s time to cut out the bacon. Newsy reports:
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Concentration of sperm in semen falls 32.3% over 16 years: study

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The good news: The male population of France is still fertile. The bad: Its sperm isn't nearly what it once was. A 16-year study of 26,600 of the country's men found their sperm count has sharply fallen, with the number of millions of spermatozoa per milliliter down...
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Points way to human infertility treatments

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A year back, scientists in Japan produced healthy mice from lab-created sperm ; now, they've done the same with lab-made eggs. The project has big implications for humans, potentially paving the way for infertile men and women to have their own offspring. "This is quite a startling feat,"...
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More and more parents helping to foot the sizable bill

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Some parents help pay for their kids' college tuition—others help foot the bill for freezing their daughters eggs? Apparently. The New York Times reports on what it paints as a growing trend: Would-be grandparents, worried about their daughter's advancing age and aware of the fact that the procedure...
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Sexual reproduction confers evolutionary benefits

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Scientists have long theorized that sexual reproduction was better, evolutionarily speaking, than its asexual counterpart—and now they’ve got some evidence. Researchers in Britain found that sexually-reproducing worms were better at staying “one evolutionary step ahead” of parasites than asexual versions of the same worm, NPR reports. That...
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(Newser) -
Times change but one thing remains constant—successful men find success with the ladies. But success at birth control? Not so much. So the Daily Beast put together an overview of some of the most notable celebrity super-spawners. Here's a list of the father(s) of all baby mamas: